Gaelic Choir

I don't think I officially announced to my blog that I am now part of the Glasgow Gaelic Choir. I went to a practice last night (though they are usually on Mondays). I must say, it is a moving sight to watch a group of men singing Gaelic songs.

On another note, I now have a job! YAY! I work with a team of other poor souls that clean a very large restaurant down the street from 7am to 10:30 am.

Kelvin Walkway

Looking up (?) the river towards the botanical gardens

the canal

I discovered - by happen chance - the Kelvin Walkway, a path that winds along beside the river Kelvin. There are canals and ruins! At first I didn't know what they were - I came upon a woman and her baby and her dog playing among the ruins. The dog barked at me, then came over and I got to pet him. It was so nice to pet a dog! It made me miss Rooster so much! I liked having smelly dog hands too! I found out later that the ruins used to be a flint mill. They would grind the flint to use for glaze for tiles.

Merchant City continued

Well, after the slight distraction of drawings, I am back on track! More pictures of my perambulations about  Merchant City!

A block of buildings on Ingram St.

I love the reflection of the sun on the windows on the opposite side of the street

Steeple of the old Tollbooth

Magpie Drawing

Mother persuaded me to put this drawing up as well, though I do not think it as good as the thistle drawing. I think perhaps I chose the wrong angle for the magpie - it was very difficult to get the right shape for his head.

Just as an aside, it has been very cold the past few nights - getting down to 2 degrees celsius (about 35 degrees F). But tonight there is cloud cover, and the difference is astonishing! It is not very cold at all - 12 degrees C - 53 degrees F!

Thistle Drawing

I had a sudden urge to draw (!) so I bought a lovely little sketchbook and I drew a picture of a thistle. Some people have expressed a wish to see said thistle, so here it is:

The faces of Ramshorn Church

I don't like to put too many pictures into one post - it makes it too cumbersome somehow. So I thought I'd break up my ramblings into a few posts. Here are the carved Medieval faces on the Ramshorn Church. They really captivated my interest.

Isn't this fellow gorgeous? I love his bulging eyes

Another view

This cowled lady was on the other side of the door from the bearded man

I couldn't get as close to these faces, but click on the picture for a larger view. 

Another pair of marvellous heads!

Merchant City

After the music hall production, I just wandered around. I found a beautiful church, called Ramshorn. There is some great information on it here:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/culture/ramshorn/info/kirk_history.htm

Although built in the 1820's, the architecture is gothic, with much adornment in the Medieval style. I wandered around the churchyard as well.

A side window, boarded up.

A distant relation? I know our name is spelled just Wylie, but it's a rare name. This fellow was Hugh Wyllie, Provost of Glasgow, and the date is 1782. Many of the grave stones were in the wall like this one.

I wasn't really sure what this was. A family plot?

Ramshorn Church

The Britannia Panopticon: Music Hall Memories

I slept in shockingly late on Saturday, but once I was up and about I made my way back to the old city centre - taking the underground to St. Enoch and heading down Argyle Street which then turns into Trongate, to go back to the music hall for a performance.

I hadn't realised when I was there last week that I was actually IN the music hall. A lady introduced the history of the music hall (growing up out of industrialisation) which started in the 1830's, and told how easily these early music halls burned down - with open flame for lighting, and much smoking etc. She told us how the Panopticon was unique - in that the bar was downstairs, and the hall upstairs. She puts its survival down to saturation - she said the men had nowhere to relieve themselves, being upstairs, so they just did so where they were, thus ensuring that it could not burn down!

After this introduction, a little show was put on - different members of the cast singing songs("If you knew Suzy" and a song by Harry Lauder among others), reciting humorous poetry, and there were even a couple of magic shows. It was all thoroughly enjoyable!

The finale. The lady w/ black hair is the one who provided the introduction, and has written a history about the Britannia Panopticon

Inside the music hall: the back of the balcony

Another view of the balcony

The ceiling

Catching up: Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum

There is a lovely way to get to the Kelvingrove museum, via the University, along a road called Kelvin Way. It is lined with trees, and has an old fashioned aspect. I noticed, as I walked along, a tree planted by the women of Glasgow when the got the vote, in 1918.

I hope the inscription for the tree is legible in this photo

The Women's Vote Tree

Here are some of the statues on the bridge on Kelvin Way:

I don't know how long I spent in the museum - it must have been at least two hours, and I only explored one of the floors. But there were some really amazing things:

A man's jacket, mid 1700's

A beautiful dress, almost an exact match as the one in the above portrait

Some other interesting things I saw:

A stuffed Soay sheep from St. Kilda

A cup and ring stone, 3000 to 1700 BCE

Dead Birds commonly seen in Glasgow!...See below:

Hooded Crow or Corbie - though I haven't seen any living

They had this labeled as 'Carrion Crow' These I have seen

Waxwings. I haven't seen any of these yet either

Magpie!

Mairi's Folly

Hello All!

I went into a second hand shop today and bought a blouse - just because it reminded me of something Laura Timmons wears in Lark Rise to Candleford (if you haven't seen it yet you MUST! It's amazing). It's just silly, I think. The other evening when I was talking to Nick (via the magical skype) he said that the young people (not referring to ourselves) were adopting styles - in clothes and architecture - that seemed turn of the century-ish. I only remembered Nick's words after I bought the blouse, though.

In any case, here it is!

(p.s. it was only £4!)

And here is a picture from Lark Rise to Candleford:

Old Glasgow part 2

Tron Kirk Steeple

I just thought I'd post some new pictures of buildings, statues and such I saw when wandering around on Saturday.

WW1 Cenotaph in George Square

A close-up of one of the lions guarding the cenotaph

Sir Walter Scott in George Square

Robert Burns in George Square

Old Glasgow

Heather started me on a mystery series set in Medieval Glasgow. In these books, the main character often walks down Gallowgate, and imagine my astonishment when I realised that The Barras (an outdoor market) was located on Gallowgate!

It's Heather who found out about The Barras, by researching The Barrowland Ballroom, from an Amy MacDonald song we all liked. For the history of the Barras (and it is an interesting one) see:
http://www.glasgow-barrowland.com/

The entrance to the outdoor market

So, I took a few pictures, and wandered around the marked a bit (it wasn't that far from the Panopticon Music Hall. I went here on the same day, it's just taken me a few days to post the pictures!)

The sign of the man with a "barra". There used to be something like this on top of the ballroom building, but it was too conspicuous to German airplanes during WW2 and so it was removed.

The Barrowland Ballroom - once a dance hall, now a concert venue